Appointment of HC judges: In a first, SC considers both lists from HC collegium

KOCHI: For the first time in history, the High Court Collegium has given two lists of district judges to be considered for the appointment of High Court Judges to the Supreme Court Collegium following a split in opinion. After considering both the lists, the Supreme Court has now recommended to appoint five persons from both the lists. Disputed names were omitted.

The list of seven persons prepared by then Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice SV Bhatti and the list prepared by Justice K Vinod Chandran, who was the third member of the collegium, excluded two persons from this list and included two other names. MB Snehalatha, Johnson John, G Girish, C Pradeep Kumar and P Krishnakumar are included in both the lists sent to SC.

Currently there are 14 High Court Judge vacancies. No decision has been taken on the two names recommended for appointment by the advocates' section.